Luminous sign



G. TAUSCHEK June 14, 1938.

LUMINOUS SIGN Filed April ll, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 F IGA.

U UHU A Munn Ul] lll] l] [I lllll] 6 lllllllllllll] UllIlU l] I] Bill](l [H] UU l1 [I l] [H] lll] FIGB.

n' 1 Il' O June 14, 1938. G TAUSCHEK 2,120,378

LUMINOUS SIGN Filed April 11, 1934 3 sheets-sheet 2 Fles. 44

@WWW/TW VE TOR ATTORNEY June 14,l 1938.

G. TAUscHEK 2,120,378

LUMINOUS SIGN Filed April 11, 1934 3 sheets-Sheet 3 FIG 7 (I) BYPatented June 14, 1938 PATENT oFFlcE'.

LUMINOUS SIGN Gustav Tauschek, New York, N. Y., assignor toInternational Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application April 11, 1934, Serial No. 720,078

3 Claims.

This invention relates to electrically controlled luminous signs.usually employed for advertising or signaling purposes.

'I'he main object of the present invention is to improve theconstruction of the signaling or character representing devices of suchsigns, which ordinarily are in the form of individual incandescent lampseach of the same form and type, so that the sign can be used either dayor night.

Contrasting to prior practice each character representing device,ordinarily known as a monogram, comprises in accordance with thisinvention a series of neon tubes which are either distinct inconguration or else of the same form but located at diiierent positions.The form and location of such tubes are so devised that when the tubesare lighted singly or in predetermined combinations various characters,such as letters and numerals, may be visibly presented.

Another object of the invention is to cause the representation of allthe English characters ordinarily used by as few of such neon tubes asis possible and still adhere to the conventional representation of suchcharacters. x

A further object is to arrange the neon tubes of a signaling orcharacter representing device so that for compactness they may overlieeach other without any detriment to the emciency of the characterrepresenting device since a lighted neon tube may be clearly visiblethrough an overlying unlighted tube.

A still further object of the invention is to devise for operativecontrol of said character representing device a suitable mechanism suchas a pattern sheet analyzing mechanism. In connection with the analyzingmechanism suitable electrical control connections extend to the tubeswhereby the latter are individually selected for illumination inaccordance with character representations on the pattern sheet.

A still further object is to provide a series of such characterrepresenting units to cause a reproduction of words, etc. represented onthe pattern sheet.

A still further object is to cause the character representing units torepresent the advertisement, etc., in the form of a traveling sign, thecharacters traveling to the left step by step.

A more specific object is to prevent improper illumination of the neontubes of the character representing units when there is no pattern sheetin the machine in position for control purposes.

Other and relatively important objects will be 55 apparent as theinvention is understood byreference to the following description andaccompanying drawings, in which:-

Flg. 1 is a plan view of a conventional tabulating card herein employedas the pattern sheet.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the 5 machine.

Fig. 3 is an electrical circuit diagram showing only three of thethirteen sets of analyzing brushes and the circuit connections for asingle character representing unit.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the preferredarrangement of neon tubes of oneof the indicating or character representing units and Fig. 5 is an endview of the same.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of the 15 manner in which each ofthe characters is represented when an indicating unit .is constructed asshown in Fig. 4.

Fig. I illustrates the manner in which characters appear at the initialcharacter represent- 20 ing operation, certain words being selected byway of example.

In Fig. 1 there is represented a tabulating card I5 which, in thepresent instance, is the pattern sheet and of the type shown anddescribed in 25 the patent to C. D. Lake No. 1,772,492 dated August V12,1930. 'I'he card is shown perforated by rectangular holes arrangedsingly at predetermined index point positions in a card column or inpredetermined combinations in any of the 30 twelve index pointpositions. The arrangement of the holes or perforations to represent allthe letters of the alphabet and all the digits is shown invertical'columns of the card shown in Fig. 1. The letter -A, forexample, is represented by per- 35 forations at the index pointpositions I, l and 1 in the rst card column. I is represented by asingle perforation at position I. If characters are represented bysingle holes they are located at distinctive positions, as in the caseof 40 letters I and O. Obviously combinations of holes to representdiierent characters are-distinctive as in the case, for example, withletters A, B, C, etc.

To cause the indication oi some particular word or sentence the card isperforated by a punching machine in the dierent vertical columns. 'I'helimit of characters that can be expressed in the type of card showninther Lake patent identified is eighty but obviously with a diierentform of pattern sheet, such as a continuous sheet, more or lesscharacters can be represented.

As shown in Fig. 2 the tabulating cards I5 are stacked in a supplyhopper I8 and the cards are pressed downwardly by a weighted plate I1lo- 1 cated on the top of the stack. Below the bottom card and arrangedto slide longitudinally in the machine framework is a picker I8 whichhas a shoulder I 9 of sufcient height to receive one edge of the bottomcard I5 so lthat each movement of the picker to the left after itsreturn to the right will feed Va single card. The reciprocation of thepicker I8 is effected by the following described operating mechanism. Amotor 20 is adapted to drive a gear 2| and by suitable gearing a shaft22, to which there is secured a disk 23. The picker I8 has a linkconnection 24 to an arm 25 and at the mid-point of the latter there isconnected a link 26, the latter also being connected to disk 23 in sucha manner that the latter acts as a crank for arm 25, whereby the latterfor each complete rotation of disk 23 reciprocates the picker I8. Whenthe motor is set in operation the cards I5 are fed one after the otherautomatically and Without the attention of the operator and as long asthe supply of cards lasts. It should be pointed out that the cards arefed in the direction of the longer dimension of the card, that is, atright angles to the vertical columns of the card and in the arrow`direction in Fig. 2. The reason for this directional feed isto permitthe sensing of the perforations in each vertical card column.

When the cards are fed and issue from the supply stack I6 they reach andpass between a pair of feeding rollers 21 and are then fed to anotherpair of feeding rollers 28 to finally land in a storage hopper 29. Thefeeding rollers 21 and 28 are intergeared and have a high ratio gearconnection 30 to the shaft 22 so as to be driven thereby at a higherspeedthan the shaft 22.

Between the p airs of feeding rollers 21 and 28 there islocated a blockof insulating material 3| carrying preferably thirteen sets of columnsof brushes 32. In Fig. 3 only three of such sets of brushes are shownand each set consists of twelve individual exible wire brushes pressingupon the card to pass through perforations if located at correspondingpositions of a correlated vertical card column and thus contact with acommon electrical conducting plate 33.

Referring to Fig. 3 it will be observed that current to the commonconducting plate 33 is furnished by a wire 34 having a connection to oneline side through cam controlled contacts- 35 and relay contacts 36.

For reasons that will be later apparent it is necessary that current toplate 33 from the line side by wire 34 be cut off; when no card isbeneath the sets of brushes 32; during the passage of a card beneath thebrushes 32 and until the thirteen sets of brushes 32 are correlated withthe thirteen leading card columns of perforations.

Fastened to the shaft 22 is a disk 31 having a high portion 38 and a lowconcentric portion 39. When a card is being fed from the stack and untilthe rst card column is operatively associated with the rst set ofbrushes 32 encountered the high portion 38 will retain contacts 35 opencutting oi current to the plate 33. As the card is fed further the lowportion 39 will permit contacts 35 to close the circuit at this pointand until the last card column has been analyzed.

Contacts 36 are controlled by a relay magnet 40 energized by a source ofcurrent 4I and current to the magnet is controlled by two special cardoperated brushes 42 and 43 normally, that is,

in the absence of a card beneath both brushes,v closing the circuit tomagnet 49 and thereby keeping the contacts 36 open. 'I'he card brush 42is so disposed as to contact with one marginal horizontal edge of a cardand is so located that substantially when the first card column iscorrelated with the first set of brushes 32 encountered the brush 42will be raised by the leading edge of the card but 'magnet 40 will stillbe energized to keep contacts 36,open since brush 43 has not been raisedand even though at this time the low portion 39 of disk 31 could or willpermit contacts 35 to close. When the first thirteen card columns are inposition for the analyzing operation brush 43 is raised by the card andit will permit contacts 36 to close. Contacts 35 are adapted to beclosed at this time so that current is now supplied to contact plate 33.The cam disk 31 is arranged to cause the closure of the contacts 35 ator slightly after the relay contacts 36 close to prevent arcing andburning of the relay contacts 36. The arc caused by the making of thecircuit is thus transferred to contacts 35 which are heavier, morepositively operated, and are better able to resist destruction usuallycaused by arcing. Further the cam 31 can be closely timed to cause thecircuit closing at the precise times. After lthe last column ofperforations leaves the left hand (Fig. 2) set of brushes 32 thetrailing vertical edge of the card leaves brush 42 so that the circuitto the relay magnet 40 will be closed opening contacts 36 and ultimatelythe trailing edge of the card leaves brush 43. The contacts 35 are timedto open before the relay contacts 36 open to thus transfer the arccaused by the opening of the 4circuit to the contacts 35. Obviouslybrushes 42 and 43 prevent current from being supplied to contact plate33 when no cards are being fed at which time the motor 20 might berunning and contacts 35 are being opened and l closed.

ythemselves particularly dualied for the present invention. The tubesmarked by all the numbers,

'except 5 and 6 are individual, while tubes 5 and 6 are divisions of asingle vertical tube capable of being used separately or together. Eachtube is either straight or curved and their forms are so selected thatwhen lighted singly or in combinations they will represent as shown inFig. 6 letters of the alphabet or the digits.

The letter A, which it will be recalled is represented by holes atpositions I, 4 and 1, will be visibly represented as shown in Fig. 6when tubes 45 having corresponding numbers are selected forillumination. In Fig. 6 there is outlined each character representationwhen tubes identified by the numerals shown are lighted. Most charactersare close to the conventional form and others sufliciently close foreasy recognition of the character intended to be represented.

As is best shown in Fig. 5 the tubes are arranged in three layers andthe ends of the tubes the middle of tubes 5-6 have contact terminals 46tting in a supporting board 41 of insulating vmaterial, in a manner wellknown in the art.

It is pointed out that when a lighted tube underlies unlighted tubes theillumination Will be visible through the clear unlighted tubes so that afull illumination will be effected.

A series of thirteen such indicating units 44 are provided and arrangedin a suitable glass covered casing 48 (Fig. 7)

In Fig. 3 by means cf a common return lead 49 one end of each of thetwelve tubes is connected to the line side 50 which leads to a suitablevoltage transformer for applying the necessary voltage to the neon tubesselected for illumination. If desired the ends of the tubes may beconnected to individual transformers if said tubes require differentvoltages. The twelve wire connections leading from the ends of thetwelve neon tubes 65 of one unit 44 are connected by lwires 5| to thecorresponding twelve brushes 32 of the related set of brushes 32. Thus,in the same manner each indicating unit 44 is electrically connected tothe related set of brushes 32 for control purposes.

If a card l5 is perforated to represent in the first thirteen columnsBuy America the thirteen sets of brushes 32 will be positioned over therst thirteen card columns and each brush of a set will select forillumination particular tubes 45 of a related indicating unit 44 and thecharacters of the two words will be simultaneously flashed and madevisible to an observer. Thereafter the card progresses past the brushes32 the lighted tubes will be darkened and when the card is fed adistance corresponding to a column the tubes will, if the fourteenthcolumn is unperforated, again light and indicate Uy America. If the15th, 16th and 17th are perforated to represent And the two remainingletters U and Y of the word Buy will successively fade out and the wordAmerica shifted to the left step by step as the letters A, N and Dsuccessively come into view at the right. 'I'his illusion gives theeffect, as is well known, of a traveling sign after the simultaneousappearance of characters represented by the first thirteen columns.

Of course, if the first thirteen columns are blank the letters willappear at the right in succession and traveling to the left step bystep. After all the card columns have been analyzed and all therepresented characters made visible the card is fed to the storagehopper 29. The sign, of course, will be unlighted during the feeding ofthe next card and when the first thirteen A columns of the next card areanalyzed and the lamps to be illuminated, a source of electrical,

power for said circuits, relay contacts, a cam, said cam controllingcontacts in series with said relay contacts, means for testing thepresence of a sheet and operative upon the absence of said pattern sheetfor disconnecting the source of power from said circuits irrespective ofthe clo- Sure of the cam controlled contacts by causing the opening ofthe relay contacts, means for feeding the sheet to and past said testingmeans, and means for rotating said cam in synchronous relationship withthe :feeding of the sheet past said testing means to cause said earn toclose its the perforations in a column, an electrical mo-v tor, a sourceof electrical power supply for said motor for uninterrupted operationthereof and for said lamps, electrical switching means' for connectingsaid source of power to said circuits, sensing means cooperating withsaid sheet and shifted by said sheet from an inactive position to anactive position when a plurality of columns of the sheet are correlatedwith the analyzing means, means operated by said electrical motor foruninterruptedly feeding the sheet to said analyzing means and saidsensing means, and means controlled by said sensing means for renderingsaid electrical switching means ineffective during the uninterruptedoperation of the feeding means to connect the power supply to'said'circuits by the inactive position of the sensing means due to theabsence of the sheet in cooperation with said sensing means, and forcausing by the active position of said sensing means said switchingmeans to connect said electrical power supply to said circuits when saidsheet has been uninterruptedly fed by said feeding means to correlate apredetermined number of columns of said sheet with said analyzing meansto thereby cause said sets of circuits to be closed through theperforations of the predetermined numberof columns to eect thesimultaneous illumination of the sets of lamps of a plurality of units,and thereafter through the perforations of successive columns-ofperforations as said sheet is thereafter .fed by the uninterruptedoperation of said feeding means.

3. In an electrical sign, a plurality of character representing unitseach unit comprising a set of lamps, a pattern sheet perforated incolumns, sets of perforation analyzing devices,y sets of electrical lampcircuits closed through the perforations by said analyzing devices forcausing the illumination of said lamps, a continually driven electricalmotor, means operated by said motor for uninterruptedly feeding thepattern sheet to the past said analyzing devices, va pair of spacedelements adapted to cooperate with said sheet at a pair of spacedcolumns thereof by uninterruptedly feeding said sheet to correlate aplurality of columns of the sheet with said analyzing devices, and meanscontrolled by said elements and rendered operable by both' of saidelements for causing the analyzing devices to simultaneously close saidsets of lamp circuits through the perforations of a plurality of columnswhen both of said elements cooperate with the sheet at'said pair ofspaced columns thereof, the last named means being rendered inoperableby one of said elements to prevent the analyzing devices from closingthe lamp circuits until the uninterrupted feeding of said sheetcorrelates said sheet with both of said elements at said pair of spacedcolumns.

GUSTAV TAUSCFEK.

